Four Stars of Valor WTO (id:#66780)

(ASL 16 - Twilight of the Reich ID: 292)   [next]   [previous]

Nijmegen, The Netherlands 1944-09-20 (50 others)

Overview:

The timely capture of a bridge across the Waal River in the city of Nijmegan was one of the keys in Operation MARKET-GARDEN, and a task that would fall to the British Guards Armoured Division and the American 82nd Airborne Division. The attacking elements were divided into two task forces. while the Eastern Force was charged with assaulting the main road bridge across Waal, the Western Force, including Lt. Colonel Benjamin Vandervoort's Company D, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, was given the job of capturing the nearby railroad bridge. By the afternoon of 19 September, both forces were in position to begin a simultaneous assault on the two objectives. Unfortunately for the attacking Allies, the Germans had had ample time to heavily reinforce the southern areas around the two bridges with approximately 2,000 defenders supported by armor and direct fire ordnance pieces. The area in front of the railroad bridge was defended by Kampfgruppe Henke, commanded by Oberst Fritz Henke, under the overall direction of Kampfgruppe Frundsberg.

Defender: German/German (SS) (Fallschirmjäger-Ausbildung-Regiment, Kampfgruppe Henke with Bataillon II. SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 21, SS-Panzer-Division 10 "Frundsberg", Kampfgruppe Frundsberg and Kompanie 4, FlaK-Battalion 572 and SS-Panzerjäger-Abteilung 10, Kampfgruppe Euling)  

Errata (source)